A ‘jam‘ to celebrate the first anniversary of the opening of the skate ramp in Cookham Rise’s Alfred Major Recreation Ground attracted intermediate and advanced skateboarders, their families and friends.
The ramp was the brainchild of Cookham residents and Borlase students Alex McKendrick and Richard Evans.
They wanted a more social form of skateboarding than they could find locally, with lots of interaction between the participants in a safe environment with a ‘community feel’. So they set up a Facebook group to find out what local skateboarders wanted, researched materials, dimensions, designs, suppliers and costs and made computer models to show how the finished ramp would look.
With help from Mandy Brar, they first presented their case to the Parish Council in September 2011. Only seven months later leading skate ramp designers Maverick Skateparks had completed the halfpipe metal installation in Alfred Major Recreation Ground.
“We hope to make the jam an annual event, with competitions, music and prizes from the event’s sponsors” said Alex. “The ramp has been better used than we had expected, which shows just how much it is valued and respected by the local community.
“We owe a lot to the Parish Council and its clerks for their support in providing and obtaining the funds for this top of the range facility”.
Cookham Skatepark celebrates its first year